from industrial democracy to “coworkership” - … industrial democracy to “coworkership” -...
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From industrial democracy to “coworkership”
- Development trends in work organization practices in Sweden
Stefan Tengblad & Thomas Andersson
University of Skövde, Sweden
Corresponding author: [email protected]
Abstract
Sweden has a reputation of being one of the most progressive countries in the world
concerning work-life development, if not the most progressive country. In this paper an
overview of the major reform efforts is presented, including the antecedents, major
events, actor positioning, and the outcomes and their explanations. In particular two
major reform strands will be described; one broad social-movement like reform aiming
to create a radically different work-life (in the paper referred to as The great vision) and
one narrower reform movement aiming to create a more engaging work-life (in the
paper referred to as The small vision). Both these reforms built theoretically and
practically on socio-technical systems theory and represent a challenge to the regime of
scientific management. In this triadic competition the two visions are mostly
antagonistic, although the real enemy is scientific management. The historical analysis
shows that the great vision struggled for hegemony in the 1970s and 1980s but was
defeated in the economic crisis of 1990s. The small vision than became the dominant
force in the Swedish work-life but due to globalization and the popularity of
standardization and formal management techniques, scientific management has
regained strength and has put the small vision in jeopardy.
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Introduction
How the principles and practices for work organization and the formation of complex
organizations have evolved over time and in national contexts has been a topic for
several important studies (Barley & Kunda, 1992; Bendix, 1956; Chandler, 1990; Guillén,
1994; Waring 1991 and Wren 1994). These studies have shown, in somewhat simplified
terms and despite important differences in national trajectories, an ideological
competition between principles for mass production (often referred to as scientific
management, Fordism and/or taylorism) and principles for basic human needs in the
work place (often referred to human relations and organizational development). On the
one hand, division of labour, standardization of work procedures and a hierarchical
distribution of power can be used for produce products and services in a reliable and
inexpensive way, but on the other hand these principles have also created problem such
as alienation, grievances, rigidity and lack of innovation. Management practices that on
the other hand seek to remedy these problems by involving workers in decision-making,
treating them as valuable assets, provide autonomy and possibilities for human growth
have not been very successful when it comes to reform the working life into a more
humane and innovative institution. The reasons for this are complex. Some would argue
that the capitalist mode of production inevitable reduce the worker into a powerless
object, others would see this as a result of a lack of imagination and human fallibility
where insecure manager feel the need to have tight control instead of empower.
In this paper we will examine the struggle between principles of mass-production and
the principles of organizational development where the workers and employees ideally
should grow into competent, mature and satisfied persons, over almost half a century in
Sweden. Sweden is here an interesting case as the Swedish industry conducted world-
famous experiments in the 1970s and led a socio-technical development more extensive
and imaginative than in any other country (Guillén, 1994: 239; Cole 1989: 89-92;
Sandberg, 1982:117) and since then several influential waves of work life reforms has
swept over the country in different periods. In particular, the paper will describe how
traditional ways of production first was challenged by a great vision of restructuring of
human conditions at the workplace during the 1970s and 1980s, and then by a smaller
vision of more responsible workers in the following two decades, in this paper referred
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to as co-workership. Co-workership is a translation of the Swedish word
Medarbetarskap, which has no English synonym. To some extent these two visions have
been competing with each other at the same time they have had a joint enemy in the
established practices for mass-production. In order to provide an explanatory
framework to the case description Guillén’s (1994) framework for comparative studies
of organizational paradigms is utilized. This framework highlights material conditions,
ideational development and actors’ interplay in order to explain the evolution of
organizational practices.
The aim of the paper is to describe and analyse how reform efforts of developing the
Swedish work life have shifted from a great vision of a democratic and humanistic work-
life characterized of consensus, knowledge and communication to a much smaller vision
of committed and responsible workers who are involved in continuous improvements
with relatively large autonomy. The main contribution of the paper besides the
illuminating description of the reform trajectories is the discussion about the
importance of contextual factors, in particular the importance of the national economy.
Theory
As mentioned in the introduction several important studies of comparative study of
organization paradigms (Barley and Kunda, 1992; Bendix, 1956; Chandler, 1990;
Guillén, 1994; Waring, 1991; Wren and Bedeian, 1994). The paper utilizes Guillén’s
(1994) theoretical framework since it can be seen as a synthesis of many of the previous
studies and because of its multidimensionality and orientation towards longitudinal
analysis, where the adoption, re-making or rejection of organizational ideologies and
practices is the centre of attention, in particular the struggles between proponents of the
scientific management and human relations paradigms. Guillén’s (1994) analytical
apparatus includes 7 factors:
- Structural change: For instance changes of size and complexity of
organization, industrial bureaucratization, development of markets.
- International pressures and opportunities: Cooperation and/or
competition between national states, the level of openness to other
economies and feelings of insecurity/security within societies.
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- Labor unrest: Guillén sees industrial conflicts a pervasive engine of
organizational change. Different management techniques can legitimize
managerial prerogatives in regards to different societal and economic
challenges.
- Elite mentalities: Mentalities are thought dispositions that are non-
reflective in character and comprises of a world-view and taken for
granted assumptions. Important elite groups in this setting are capital
owners and entrepreneurs.
- Professional groups: Salaried managers often make decisions based on
their professional training for instance in engineering, business
administration, finance or business law.
- State involvement: State can play an important role for the
institutionalization of organizational paradigms according to Guillén. The
level of State activity in the work level varies between different times
and different countries.
- Workers responses: The final factor in the analytical schemata is the way
workers and their unions’ responses to different management
techniques and ideologies. Workers’ and unions’ responses can vary
from cooperation to hostility.
Guillen compares the development of organizational paradigms in the United States,
Germany, Spain and Great Britain from the rise of industrialization to around the years
of 1970. He shows that each of these countries has developed their own institutions for
industrial organizations due to differences between the factors and differences in the
interplay between various actor groups.
Sweden: A modernist society with a strong labour movement
Before describing the development of the two visions, we will discuss some basic
features of Sweden. Starting with the process of industrialization, Sweden was a late
adopter due to a relatively peripheral location, and a sparsely populated country with
very few cities of substantial importance in economic terms. However Sweden, as a
country with abundant natural resources such as forests, mining and hydro-electric
power benefited from the more advanced industrial on the continent and the UK. Also
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important for the development was a peaceful introduction to democracy, a neutral
position in both great wars and without any serious regional and/or ethnic tension.
After the Social Democrats get the governmental power in 1932, and then stayed in
power for 44 years (until 1976) the labour movement was the dominating political force
in the post-war boom even though some of the elections were very close. Together with
the Social Democratic Party the strongest organization in the labour movement was the
union LO (i.e the “National Organization”) who organized the great majority of blue-
collar workers. LO was positive to economic rationalization, but as long as a large
proportion of the economic gain went to the workers and that the State was supporting
workers that became unemployed due to the rationalization. The main idea was that the
workers should leave relatively unproductive work (including farming) and move to
larger cities with successful exporting industries. The Social Democrats also was positive
towards free trade as long as it meant increased possibilities for the expanding
mechanical engineering industry even though this meant that the textiles and shoes
industry soon went into financial trouble and closedowns.
The dominating mentality for most of the examined period was definitely modernist and
this mentality made it possible for proponents but form private companies and the
labour movement to cooperate and to make larger investment both in the private and
the public sector. While the public sector became dominating in education, healthcare,
railways, postal services and telecommunications, the private sector was dominating in
industrial production, agriculture, forestry, retailing and finance. The outlook among the
leaders from both spheres was sometimes antagonistic, but there was also a consensus
that decisions should be based on facts and rational thinking and that societal
modernization and economic growth was basically something desirable. From the
beginning, the modernization had a material focus and that the population received
better healthcare, education, housing and transportation.
In the 1960s, when Sweden was the richest country in Europe (together with
Switzerland), new values also began to influence the Swedish mentality that could be
labelled as post-modern. More materialistic and authoritarian values were questioned in
favour of individual self-expression, life quality, and personal self-fulfilment (Inglehart,
1997; Inglehart et al., 1998). Criticism was raised about stressful conditions at work.
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Workers were generously paid relatively other European countries, but they did not
have an influence on shop-floor work practices and their jobs were often physically
tearing and monotonous. Other aspects that were brought into public attention and
debate in this period were the lack of gender equality and an increasing environmental
degradation. In the 1970s these new ideas had organized themselves into new social
movements for gender equality, environmental protection, international solidarity and –
of special interest of this paper – for industrial democracy. The emerging post-
modernist mentality led to a cultural clash in the 1970s with the proponents of the
modernist regime and young politicians with a radical agenda was gaining power in a
period with many confrontations in issues as the further construction of nuclear and
hydro-electric plants, a more industrialized deforestation, piece-rate systems seen as
exploitive of workers, women’s right to abortion and public child care, a more extensive
welfare provision and in many other issues. The social welfare net for sickness leave,
unemployment assistance, access to educational and healthcare service were developed
during the 1960s and 1970s into one of the most generous in the World, if not the most
generous.
A relatively early adoption of postmodern values Sweden is visible in the well-known
study of Hofstede (1984), where IBM employees from 70 countries answered a
questionnaire about personal values the years around 1970. Here, Sweden stood out in
two regards in comparison to other West-European countries: 1) there was a low level
of uncertainty avoidance and 2) a low level of masculinity (the lowest of all investigated
countries) (Hofstede 1984). This should according to the theory imply that Swedes have
a high tolerance for ambiguous situations and that they value good relations,
environmental care and equality relatively higher than material rewards and social
prestige. The focus on equality and personal self-fulfilment in Sweden is also recognized
by Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997). In the theoretical framework of
modernization and post-modernization developed by Ronald Inglehart and colleagues
(1997), Sweden is one of the countries with the highest frequency of postmodern values.
Inglehart and Baker (2000) therefore identify Sweden as a country on the cutting edge
of cultural change. Byrkjeflot, 2003, p. 29 referring to Cetron & Tool (1983) perceive
Sweden in a similar vein, as a country especially receptive to social innovation.
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It can always be discussed how far reaching and important the development during the
1970s was. While it certainly was a major break from the previous modernization it was
not really economically tenable. The reforms in virtually all sectors of the society were
very costly and the Swedish taxes increased year by year to the by far highest in the
world and the competitiveness went down so seriously that three major devaluations
was needed to avoid large trade deficits. But the development during the 1970s
provided without any doubt the bedrock for the great vision of a different work life soon
to be described more in detail.
Methodology
This research is based on a hermeneutic approach with the interpretation of texts as key
method. The hermeneutic circle has influenced our research process, implying that the
meaning of a part can only be understood in a rich way by relating it to the whole, that
is, other facts that are known about the object, its context and its history (Alvesson and
Sköldberg, 2009). We have started in some parts (texts and cases) and have tentatively
related this to the whole (the development of Swedish work-life), which have brought
new thoughts to our minds and helped us to see a larger picture in all the details we
have noticed. We have then returned to texts and cases (existing and new) with this new
picture of the development of Swedish work-life, which has constructed new meanings
into the texts and cases. Consequently, as Radnitzky (1970) points out, the hermeneutic
circle is not a circle when translated to the research process, but rather a spiral. The
alternately shift between the whole and the parts gradually creates a deeper and deeper
understanding.
The parts that we have studied in order to understand the development of Swedish
work-life have been texts describing the development until year 2000 and texts and own
cases from year 2000. The choice of texts is primarily research texts describing various
events related to the work-life reforms and also books and interviews with business
leaders, union representatives and governmental officials collected over a long period of
time (from 1999 until 2014), gathered by the authors as a frame of reference for several
research project concerning the role of employees and the interplay between managers
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and employees when responsibility is distributed. Consequently, we have not performed
a literature review in a strict sense, but the choice of texts has been strategic, based on
how we perceived that they could influence the whole. From year 2000 it is not only
texts, but also our own case studies in public and private organizations that represent
the parts. In total we have performed more than 20 case studies during 1999 – 2014.
The different cases are rather equally divided between public and private sector
organizations and they cover a wide range of different industries and professions such
as architects, bank clerks, construction work, retail work, consultants, manufacturers,
product developers, jobcentre officials, veterinarians, geriatric care workers, municipal
administrators, school teachers, psychiatrists, healthcare workers and police officers
(references will be inserted in a later stage if the paper is accepted for anonymity
reasons). Data collection in case studies has mainly been performed by interviews and
observations.
The rise and evolution of the great vision: Work democracy and “the Good work”
(1970-1990):
The historical compromise between labour and capital in Swedish work-life, which
previously had been very successful for increasing productivity and generating growth,
met new challenges in the second half of the 1960s. There was a shortage of workers in
many industries and many industrial firms were plagued by a troublesome high
personnel turnover. The young generation, who recently had received new possibilities
of obtaining higher education (except the upper-class) and was used to have more
freedom as “teenagers”, were in many cases reluctant to accept the harsh conditions of
industrial work.
Commentators began now to question the principles of scientific management with
fragmented and repetitive work (Tengblad 2003, chapter 3). The Swedish Employer’s
Federation saw the problem as important and started a technical department in 1966
with the mission to find ways on how to combine productivity with work satisfaction.
The head of the technical department had led work-life experiments in a major Swedish
metal company and furthermore they had established contacts with researchers from
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the Tavistock Institute and Einar Thorsrud and his colleagues who conducted work-life
experiments in four Norwegian companies in the mid-1960s (Emery & Thorsrud, 2013).
The spark that ignited a fervent development was a large wildcat strike at the iron
mining company LKAB in the Northern-most part of Sweden. The strike started in the
end of 1969 and lasted for three months, and it provoked a large number of smaller
wild-cat strikes all over the country. These strikes led to a change in perspective from a
focus on technical rationalization to what can be done to adjust the production
technology and work organization to the needs of the workers. The technical
department developed a leading position in the 1970s for both theoretical
underpinnings of work-life reforms and practical development work. Their main idea
was to organize workers in small groups, and that the workers should receive influence
about production practices and planning and other forms of job-enrichments and that
there was an incentive structure at the group level with regards to production goal. The
department conducted a large number of projects and the most famous of these was the
Volvo Kalmar plant, the first mass-producing automotive factory without a conveyer-
belt since the days of Henry Ford. The CEO at Volvo at the time, the charismatic Pehr G.
Gyllenhammar established himself as an international spokesperson for work-life
reforms in order to make industrial work much more meaningful and rewarding for the
workers Gyllenhammar (1977).
While the Kalmar factory had many innovative features it was not radically different and
the workers had three to four minutes to accomplish their work until an automatic
wagon transported the vehicle to the next station. The sociotechnical aspects were also
decreased due to a downturn in car sales in 1977, which threatened to make the factory
redundant. The factory survived but the assembly work was substantially intensified.
According to Sandberg (1982:117) Swedish industry conducted in the seventies a socio-
technical development more extensive and imaginative than in any other country.
Institutional support was provided not least from the Swedish Employer Confederation
who was active in the development of a work organization based on production groups
with extended responsibilities for planning, preparation and conduct of work. Socio-
technical work organization also received large institutional and financial support from
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government agencies such as The Swedish Institute for Work Life Research and the
Work Environment Fund (Gustavsen et al., 1996). According to the proponents of socio-
technique more responsibility to workers and employees was seen as very beneficial
both regarding work satisfaction, commitment and productivity.
For the more radical left and for many representatives in the blue-collar union, LO, the
reforms led by the technical department were not sufficient and these reforms were
attacked for not addressing the key issue in their minds was the unequal power of
production. Shop-floor reforms should therefore be supplanted and even be preceded by
boardroom reforms. Gyllenhammar was proactive in this regard as well and he invited
the unions to elect representatives to the company board in 1971, and legislative bill
was taken in 1973, which stated that there should be two seats for the unions in
companies with more than 200 employees. The notion that workers and employees
should have more say on their work have had strong political support in Sweden from
the 1970s and onwards. There was a strong political majority behind the idea that
managers should consult with employee representatives before important decisions and
also to conduct joint decision-making in industrial relations and work environmental
issues. In the first half of 1970s also other new work-life legislation was taken, the most
important was a law for employment protection, and there was also laws that regulated
(and supported) the work for union representatives, for work environment, and legal
rights related to absenteeism for child care, education etc.
To create functional co-determination practices below the boardroom level but above
the shop-floor level was a harder nut to crack. Managers on different levels were
unwilling to share power and differences in viewpoints between managers and union
representatives were hard to reconcile. The Technical department and the Employers’
Federation were also negative to codetermination practices below the board-room level.
The Social Democratic government was working on a legislation with the aim of create a
more equal power base, but a centre-right coalition which resumed in power in 1976
removed the more radical propositions in the Bill which was granted in 1977. The new
government faced huge problem with large companies that suffered from a drain of
financial resources. Many companies were overtaken by the State in order to avoid
heavy job-losses. The political will to reform the working life was no longer strong.
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The blue-collar union LO, who from the beginning was critical to the Employer
Federations inclination to use socio-technical inspired work groups as a means for
further rationalization of industrial work, and who preferred administrative reforms,
changed its opinion in the eighties. In an influential report from 1985 called “The good
work”, the Metal Workers Union (one of the two largest branches within the LO)
accepted the use of a socio-technical work organization in order to increase productivity
and flexibility, if the power over shop-floor management was given to the workers. This
meant that the supervisory function should be abolished and that production groups
were given full responsibility to take care of internal matters as long as agreed quotas of
production and level of quality were fulfilled (Metall 1985). Instead of workers obeying
orders, the workers should be able to negotiate on production quotas and delivery
schedules. The good work represented in many ways the best synthesis of the great
vision; that is, a work that was combining industrial democracy with good working
conditions and work development. The report was given strong institutional support by
the LO and work life researchers linked to the Swedish Council for Work Life Research, a
state-financed national research agency.
The movement towards a greater work-life democracy was supported by election
victories for Social democratic party in 1982, 1985 and 1988, and an improved
competitiveness and expansion after a 16 % devaluation in 1982. A large-scale research
and development program called “Leadership, organization and co-determination”
(LOM) was initialized in 1985 which came to encompass 60 researchers and 150
organizations (Naschold et al., 1993). The LOM program made use of Jürgen Habermas’
ideas about democratic dialogue where workers and managers were trained in
communication skills and took part in open-ended discussions about issues that the
participants felt important.
In the second half of the 1980s, similar problems with labour turnover and shortages as
in the 1960s occurred and the employers were once again motivated to continue with
work life development and particularly semi-autonomous groups. Volvo started a new
car factory in Uddevalla, a city 80 kilometers north of Gothenburg, in 1988 based on
craft production where small groups assembled a whole car.
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The further development of the small vision: The institutionalization of
coworkership and influence of neotaylorism (1990-2010)
The “great vision era” came to an end with the economic crisis in the beginning of the
1990s and it was clearly manifested by Volvo’s decision to close down the innovative
socio-technical factories in Kalmar and Uddevalla (Berggren, 1995). The Swedish State
had huge budget deficit and a high debt and was pressured by international lenders to
make economic reforms. Work life reforms in Sweden now took a different direction.
The industrial democracy movement, that was strong in the 1970s and struggled to gain
momentum in the 1980s, almost disappeared in the 1990s. Such initiatives of power
sharing were rejected by private employers (Tengblad 2003). The social democrats was
in opposition between 1991 and 1994 and when they came back in power they did not
spearhead any work-life reform, but continued to reform the economy by deregulation
and tax cuts on capital gains. Instead this was a period of recession in Sweden and
employers therefore perceived a need for extensive efforts of decreasing costs. In
particular the T50-program launched in 1991 within the Swedish units of the
engineering firm ABB was influential. ABB took thereby over Volvo’s role as the leader
of work-life reformation. No other internal company development program has ever had
such big impact as T50 on the general development of Swedish work-life (ibid.). Pivotal
for diffusion of the T50 experience was The Swedish Working Life Fund, who
enthusiastically advocated the principles and techniques used in ABB’s T50-program
(Gustavsen et al., 1996).
The goal of T50 was to create radical increases in productivity, customer satisfaction
and flexibility. The connections to lean production were clear, since the goal in
particular was to cut lead times in production, administration and distribution by half
and to create a corporate culture centred on the creation of customer value (Lillrank,
1996). The implementation of T50 also included the abolishment of supervisors in
favour of ‘production leaders’ responsible for two or three work groups. The role of
production leaders was to be a coach for the work groups and not least work with HRM
issues such as compensation, personal development, rehabilitation and counselling.
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Each working group was given responsibility for planning, internal work distribution
and productivity development (Gustavsen et al., 1996). The introduction of working
groups with extended responsibilities has been a major trend within industry, in
services and also the public sector although there are exceptions.
Group organization and delegated responsibility remained a central idea and heritage
from the socio-technical movement even during this era, but it was now connected with
productivity and customer orientation, while it had previously been connected with the
“good work”. An employee perspective had in times of economic recession been
exchanged with customer orientation. Group organization even became a means of
rationalization when working groups became responsible for their own productivity
development.
In December 2006 the newly elected centre-right government decided to close down the
National Institute for Working Life, since it was seen as too aligned to the labour
movement and the ambitions to strengthen the position of the workers.
Post-modern management philosophy was also manifested by customer orientation
since it became the main reason behind flat organizational structures with delegated
responsibilities where all co-workers should have the customer as the guiding-star (e.g.,
Carlzon, 1987). Even if organizational culture became an example of postmodern
management already in the previous era, the interest for management by values and
objectives following this ideal exploded in the 1990s. Organizational culture had
different meanings and implications during the 1990s compared to the 1980s. During
the 1980s it was more about creating a collective spirit that through group organization
could be the prerequisite for cooperation. During the 1990s organization culture
became more about creating a culture of responsible workers who had the customer as
a guiding star. Organizational culture took a more individual direction during the 1990s
compared to the collectivistic 1980s, which also manifests the change from a great
vision to a smaller vision.
A central part of postmodern management philosophies in Sweden is the practice of
HRM theories. We have already mentioned it related to the abolishment of supervisors
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and the increase of HRM responsibilities for line managers. This is not only a Swedish
development, but an international development. However, the development appears to
be more pronounced in Sweden (Lindeberg & Månsson, 2006) than in other countries
such as United States and the UK, and especially continental Europe. However, after the
financial crisis in 2008 some issues such as lay-offs appear to have returned to HR-
departments in Sweden (Lindeberg & Månsson, 2012). In comparison to research from
the UK that reports about a reluctance among line managers to take larger
responsibilities in HRM-issues (Frances & Keegan, 2006; Kirkpatrick et al, 1992; Lowe,
1992), in Sweden HRM has become a major feature for managers with directly reporting
personnel (Hällsten, 2003; Larsson and Persson, 2002; Tengblad 2003).
In line with the individualization of organization and HRM practices directed to
responsible workers, coworkership (medarbetarskap in Swedish) became a
phenomenon that researchers began to conceptualize in the end of the 1990s. Research
had both a descriptive and normative character (e.g., Tengblad, 2003; Hällsten &
Tengblad, 2006; Tengblad et al., 2007; Andersson & Tengblad, 2009; Tengblad, 2010;
Andersson et al., 2011). Descriptive research generated descriptions and
conceptualizations of the new forms of organizing and work practices characterized by
increased demand of agency, responsibility and initiatives among co-workers, but also a
strengthened more cooperative relationship between them. Normative research
provided conceptualizations of prerequisites of well-developed coworkership and
models on how to develop coworkership. The most influential research contribution is
the coworkership wheel (Hällsten & Tengblad, 2006), which was developed further in
2010 (see Tengblad, 2010). The coworkership wheel describes prerequisites for a
constructive and well-developed coworkership. The model illustrates how
coworkership can constitute a philosophy for organizational development. It has had a
direct impact on practice, and has been the role model for many coworkership
development projects and it is included in several organizations’ policy documents,
visions etc.
The combination of managers extended responsibility for personnel together with
coworkership in Sweden can be regarded as one of the most influential HRM practices in
the world so far. HRM is otherwise seen as a theory that has had large difficulties to
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break through in practice in other countries (see for example Legge, 1995 and Townley,
1994), because the traditional way of organizing personnel work (i.e. with specific HR
departments), still is complicated to change. HRM tries to go beyond the personnel work
managed by the HR department (Boxall and Purcell, 2003), which has become a part of
practice in Sweden, and not only theoretical visions.
Considering the descriptive definitions of coworkership, coworkership has always
existed in Swedish organizations. However, the more collective coworkership during
1970s and 1980s started to take a more individual direction during the 1990s, meaning
that the focus shifted to co-workers who took responsibility for their work in
cooperation with managers. The direction meant less focus on autonomous working
groups (even if decentralization still was a main characteristic), but more focus towards
cooperative relationships between individual managers and individual co-workers.
Autonomy became cooperative interplay between managers and co-workers.
The conceptualization of coworkership made it a concept used in HR practice, not only a
research concept. The previously mentioned practical implications of HRM ideas in
Sweden had prepared the soil for coworkership development. There are several
interesting and comprehensive case studies that describe implicit and explicit
coworkership development work. Their comprehensiveness makes it possible to trace
strategies and ideas behind the work. Stockhult (2005) describes coworkership as a way
to manifest organizational values. Her study performed in 2003 in call-centre
organizations clearly manifests the shift to a small vision, where management tried to
extend the boundaries of worker responsibility. Kilhammar’s (2011) doctoral thesis
describes two different perspective of coworkership. The employer/manager/HR
perspective that often is characterizing coworkership development projects aiming at
creating responsible co-workers. Participation is then seen as a prerequisite for
responsible co-workers. Yet, co-workers often represent another perspective, where
participation has a value on its own, not as a means to achieve responsible workers. In
regard to our argument, Kilhammar’s (2011) results are very interesting, since they
illustrate the manifestation of the small vision through the employer/manager/HR
perspective that influence coworkership development projects, but a heritage from the
great vision is alive through the coworkers, who still see value in the by employer’s
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obsolete corporate democracy movements. The management/HRM perspective is
confirmed by Stockhult (2013), who described a coworkership development project
from 2007 in which management defined what kind of coworkership should
characterize the organization, and then tried to implement it.
Since about 2010 there has been a re-emerged interest in organizational values. It is
seen in policy documents, CSR philosophies and organizational values/ethics
development projects. Especially in public organizations (authorities, municipal
organizations and public health organizations) these development projects often include
coworkership development projects, since they perceive that coworkership display
organizational values such as responsibility, trust and cooperation that
management/HR wants coworkers to align with. This has created a second wave of
individual directed coworkership development projects, but mainly in public
organizations. In municipal organizations there has not been much explicit resistance,
but in public healthcare the resistance has been significant. However, the resistance
appears not to be directed to the ideas, but the resistance comes from the professionals
who resist employers and managers independent of ideas (Huzell, 2005; Norbäck &
Targama, 2009;)
So what about the future? What will happen to the small vision? During the last year we
have, as previously mentioned, to some extent seen a return of HR issues to HR
departments. There has been a mode of market rationalism with de-regulation and
increased use of temporary employment arrangements. Lean production has spread to
new sectors (Modig and Åhlström, 2011) and created a new-authoritative leadership
based on standardization and centralization. HR transformation has moved
transactional and administrative HR-tasks to employees, but also to line managers
(Thilander, 2013). The question is if we stand in front of a development where the
cooperative relationships that we can see between managers and co-workers will be
abandoned for traditional managerialism with authoritative managers? In that case the
great vision has transformed to a small vision and might be exchanged with no vision.
Analysis
17
Here we will discuss the Guillén factors in more detail.
Structural change: The increased affluence of the citizens created a demand for change
so that the work-life should become more satisfying and rewarding. Later on, work
became less easy, that is, the value of a motivated and multi-skilled workforce increased.
International pressures and opportunities: High external demand for Swedish products
made employers more interested in work-life reforms with a humanistic orientation,
while bad economic conditions created incentives for rationalization regardless of the
effect for the workers. Ongoing de-regulations, in particular the creation of the European
common market and the rise of Asian manufacturers, created strong competitive
pressures.
Labor unrest: The case supports Guillén’s view that industrial conflicts are a pervasive
engine of organizational change. The great vision is popular when labour is a scarce
resource, and scientific management is popular in times where labour is an abundant
resource.
Elite mentalities: Important elite groups such as capital owners and entrepreneurs were
negative to the great vision in the entire period.
Professional groups: The case shows that leading career top managers are receptive to
trends in times and that they can promote the development of work-life reforms. Linked
to contextual factors it can be noted that the career top managers today are not very
interested or not all interested in work-life reforms, but the potential of management-
by-objectives is quite well-spread. The power of engineers in manufacturing can explain
the strong position of scientific management, while work-life reforms were spearheaded
by social scientist and psychologists.
State involvement: The Swedish State played an important role, first as catalyst for work-
life reforms during the 1970s and 1980s, but then decreased its involvement gradually.
The ebb and flood of State involvement is in line with Guillén’s analysis.
18
Workers responses: It can be noted that the workers interest was divided. The blue-collar
workers and their unions were much more engaged in work-life development issues,
especially related to humanize and democratize the work-life while white-collar
employees were more in favour of the small vision.
This table summarizes the case from very positive (+2) to very negative (-2)
Actor positioning The great vision The small vision Scientific
management
Employer federation Very limited, active
or passive resistance
-2
Quite strong in
different time periods
+1
In periods active
resistance to the
model, otherwise
support +0
Blue-collar unions Strong support +2 Limited interest,
occasionally active
resistance +0
Active resistance -2
White-collar unions Limited interest -1 Acceptance of this
model, occasionally
strong support +1
Acceptance of this
model, occasionally
resistance +0
State Authorities Strong support
occasionally, limited
support occasionally
+1
Acceptance of this
model, occasionally
strong support, +1
In periods active
resistance to the
model, otherwise
acceptance -1
Representatives for
State controlled
companies
Little interest,
sometimes strong
resistance -1
Acceptance of this
model but not a very
active support. +0
Acceptance of this
model, occasionally
efforts to question
this model +1
Leading private
companies
Active resistance -2 Strong support, +2 Shifting from a
negative to a positive
outlook, +0
Scientific community/
work-life research
Strong support +2 From a negative to a
positive outlook +0
Strong negative view
-2
19
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